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Comey faces deadline to file legal motions to dismiss indictment against him
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. I’m Tom Ambrose and I will be bringing you the latest news lines over the next hour or so.
We start with the news that former FBI director James Comey today faces a deadline to file legal motions to dismiss an indictment accusing him of making false statements to Congress. Expected challenges that are scheduled to be filed today include claims that the prosecution was vindictive and that the US attorney supervising it was unlawfully appointed by president Donald Trump.
The brief indictment handed down by a federal grand jury on 25 September accused Comey of making a false statement and obstructing a congressional investigation in connection with his September 2020 testimony to Congress.
While the details of the charge remain unclear, they appear to be related to his claim that he never authorized anyone in the FBI to be an anonymous source in news stories.
“I have great confidence in the federal judicial system and I’m innocent. So let’s have a trial. And keep the faith,” Comey said in a video statement the night the charges were filed.
In other developments:
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Donald Trump has escalated tensions between Washington and one of its closest Latin American allies, declaring the US will slash assistance to Colombia and enact tariffs on its exports because its president, Gustavo Petro, “does nothing to stop” drug production. Trump referred to Petro as “an illegal drug leader” in a post on the Truth Social platform and warned that Petro “better close up” drug operations “or the United States will close them up for him, and it won’t be done nicely”.
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Disgraced former US congressman George Santos said on Sunday that his prison sentence had been “disproportionate” but that he had been served “a very large slice of humble pie”, while lashing out at his critics in his first interview since Donald Trump commuted his sentence. Speaking to CNN, Santos said he was “all politicked out” and called for his former campaign staffer, Sam Miele, to also receive a commutation.
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Trump said yesterday that he would send the national guard into San Francisco to make it “great again”. The comment came during an interview with Fox News, with Trump saying: “We’re going to go to San Francisco, and we’re going to make it great.”
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Major US soft-drink and snack-food corporations are waging a coordinated campaign that aims to pit Donald Trump’s Maga faithful against Robert F Kennedy Jr’s “Make America Healthy Again” movement, a Guardian investigation in partnership with the environmental watchdog Fieldnotes has found. Their goal is to stymie the Maha-led effort to curb Americans’ consumption of soda and ultra-processed foods.
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The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has arrived in the US for a meeting with president Donald Trump, where they are expected to discuss the Aukus pact – an agreement a respected Republican has called a “crucial deterrent” in the Indo-Pacific that “keeps [the Chinese president, Xi Jinping] up at night”.
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A city council member in Florida is facing a backlash from national Indian American organizations, members of Congress and residents after posting a series of social media messages that insulted Indian people living in the US and called for them to be deported en masse.
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President Donald Trump reiterated on Sunday that Indian prime minister Narendra Modi told him India will stop buying Russian oil, while warning that New Delhi would continue paying “massive” tariffs if it did not do so.
“I spoke with prime minister Modi of India, and he said he’s not going to be doing the Russian oil thing,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.
Asked about India’s assertion that it was not aware of any conversation between Modi and Trump, Trump replied: “But if they want to say that, then they’ll just continue to pay massive tariffs, and they don’t want to do that.”
Russian oil has been one of the main irritants for Trump in prolonged trade talks with India - half of his 50% tariffs on Indian goods are in retaliation for those purchases. The US government has said petroleum revenue funds Russia’s war in Ukraine, Reuters reports.
Comey faces deadline to file legal motions to dismiss indictment against him
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. I’m Tom Ambrose and I will be bringing you the latest news lines over the next hour or so.
We start with the news that former FBI director James Comey today faces a deadline to file legal motions to dismiss an indictment accusing him of making false statements to Congress. Expected challenges that are scheduled to be filed today include claims that the prosecution was vindictive and that the US attorney supervising it was unlawfully appointed by president Donald Trump.
The brief indictment handed down by a federal grand jury on 25 September accused Comey of making a false statement and obstructing a congressional investigation in connection with his September 2020 testimony to Congress.
While the details of the charge remain unclear, they appear to be related to his claim that he never authorized anyone in the FBI to be an anonymous source in news stories.
“I have great confidence in the federal judicial system and I’m innocent. So let’s have a trial. And keep the faith,” Comey said in a video statement the night the charges were filed.
In other developments:
-
Donald Trump has escalated tensions between Washington and one of its closest Latin American allies, declaring the US will slash assistance to Colombia and enact tariffs on its exports because its president, Gustavo Petro, “does nothing to stop” drug production. Trump referred to Petro as “an illegal drug leader” in a post on the Truth Social platform and warned that Petro “better close up” drug operations “or the United States will close them up for him, and it won’t be done nicely”.
-
Disgraced former US congressman George Santos said on Sunday that his prison sentence had been “disproportionate” but that he had been served “a very large slice of humble pie”, while lashing out at his critics in his first interview since Donald Trump commuted his sentence. Speaking to CNN, Santos said he was “all politicked out” and called for his former campaign staffer, Sam Miele, to also receive a commutation.
-
Trump said yesterday that he would send the national guard into San Francisco to make it “great again”. The comment came during an interview with Fox News, with Trump saying: “We’re going to go to San Francisco, and we’re going to make it great.”
-
Major US soft-drink and snack-food corporations are waging a coordinated campaign that aims to pit Donald Trump’s Maga faithful against Robert F Kennedy Jr’s “Make America Healthy Again” movement, a Guardian investigation in partnership with the environmental watchdog Fieldnotes has found. Their goal is to stymie the Maha-led effort to curb Americans’ consumption of soda and ultra-processed foods.
-
The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has arrived in the US for a meeting with president Donald Trump, where they are expected to discuss the Aukus pact – an agreement a respected Republican has called a “crucial deterrent” in the Indo-Pacific that “keeps [the Chinese president, Xi Jinping] up at night”.
-
A city council member in Florida is facing a backlash from national Indian American organizations, members of Congress and residents after posting a series of social media messages that insulted Indian people living in the US and called for them to be deported en masse.
